Thursday, April 12, 2012

Resolve Maoist issue in right earnest

Italian hostage Paolo Bosusco was released by the Maoists on Thursday, 29 days after he was abducted along with his countryman Claudio Colangelo by the Naxals in Odisha's Kandhamal district.His compatriot Colangelo had been released by the Maoists on 25th March as a "goodwill gesture", while Bosusco was not freed by the ultras who wanted their demands to be fulfilled by the Odisha government. More than 13 states of the country have been facing Maoist violence for years. But the successive governments at the Centre and in states have never shown serious concern to solve the burning problem. The abduction of two Italians, who have been freed, and an MLA of Odisha has brought in focus the Maoist problem once again on the national centrestage. One of the two Italians was freed early and the other one was freed after spending 29 days in Maoist captivity. Odisha Government of Naveen Patnayak had to accept the demands of Maoist in exchange for the freedom of Italian. The Odisha boss of Maoist Sabyasachi Panda’s wife was released from jail under the agreement with state government for freeing the Italian. Abducted MLA’s fate is still hanging in balance. Odisha government’s action in the entire episode of abduction was more of surrendering mode than of standing up to the challenge thrown at them by the Maoists. It also appears that the Centre did not provide enough help to solve the Italian hostage issue for political reasons. Odisha Government was under pressure on the one hand because of the abduction of foreign nationals and vote bank politics of our political class was also acting on the other. The Maoists are our indigenous people. Tribal belt is the breeding ground of Maoism. Their inhabitation has been jungle, which now is cut for industrial purposes by big industrial houses in agreement with the Central and State government. This has set fears among tribal that their age-old inhabitations and sources of livelihood are destroyed without providing them any tangible development in their day to day life. They are still the poorest population of the country. Poverty, illiteracy, inequitable distribution of wealth of the nation breeds Maoism. Maoists believe in violence and they also believe in the Mao Tse Tung’s theory that power flows from the barrel of the gun. Maoists are extreme left who do not tolerate disagreement. But ours is a largest democracy and we have the finest Constitution. If the nation had been run according to the Constitution in letter and spirit and legislative and executive behaved honestly to execute rules and regulation as laid down by it without any favouritism, the issue of Maoism in the country would not have raised its head so openly. The nation has lost more 10,000 innocent lives in Maoist violence. But as every action of the government is guided by ruling party’s interest at the cost of the nation, the situation has reached to a dangerous level.

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